Update: I was unfortunately not aware of Shamus Young's severe criticism of Fallout 3 available here to link in the original piece and I regret that. It dovetails rather nicely with what I've written and it's much better executed than my piece. I strongly recommend anyone...

Unfortunately, the almost believable premise is about the only thing in the game that works as it should. Although Frontlines sports sophisticated machinery - gadgets and vehicles and doo-hickeys galore - it seems to be lacking the juice to run all that neat stuff. Ironically, the supposed widespread lack of energy is an apt metaphor for the game itself - a promising battlefield-style shooter that ultimately just up and dies at the curb. It might look good in the garage, but before you know it, Frontlines will be jacked up on cinder blocks and left to fertilize the yard with rust.

The game’s appeal rests heavily on its multiplayer Battlefield-style online matches, as Frontlines offers a single-player campaign only six hours in length. It is no Call of Duty 4 or Halo 3, but the various missions in the campaign, in which you play as a generic hero-soldier fighting to secure oil fields, are a good introduction to the Motor Trend-worthy collection of vehicles and gadgetry. Unlike similar titles, such as Warhawkor Shadowrun, Frontlines can’t be faulted for not giving us something to play when the servers are down.

The vehicles and gadgets are what make Frontlines special. Several varieties of tanks and jeeps can be driven, each with unique weapons. Some tanks have missiles, others cannons, others flak-guns for aircraft. But you can also take to the air in various kinds of helicopters - both troop transport and attack - and eventually in jet fighters. Even if there’s an oil crisis, you’ve sure got a lot of ways to get around (and no gas gauges!).